Weight and cooling can be worth a tenth
“The difference in race pace between us and Red Bull? A tenth, but finding it is not easy.” In several weekends in 2024, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur emphasized that, especially in race pace, the Ferrari SF-24 was not far from the category reference, namely the RB20, which recently doesn’t seem to hold the title of best car on the grid so firmly in the face of McLaren’s progress and Mercedes’ resurgence, as the German side was able to win at Silverstone without being helped by favorable circumstances but solely based on performance.
The last tenth, the one that makes the difference between winning and second place, can be found or ‘invented’ by taking ‘calculated risks.’ In an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Ferrari’s number one, Frederic Vasseur, stressed that in Formula 1, it is necessary to dare, take risks, and step out of the comfort zone in various aspects to scrape together that decisive tenth.
“Whether it’s the amount of fuel for the race, weight, cooling system, or car setup, these are the factors where you need to take risks and step out of your comfort zone,” said Fred Vasseur. “In my opinion, this has been one of Red Bull’s greatest qualities. If you want to push the weight limit, you need to think very carefully beforehand about how much weight the car will lose during the race through the wear of the underbody coating, tires, brakes, oil consumption. This is how you learn to push the limit in all areas. The same goes for cooling. I can open an extra panel to be safer, or manage a bit more in the race depending on the circumstances. Every extra kilo, every unnecessary degree, costs three hundredths and in total, you can end up losing a tenth.” – the Ferrari team principal pointed out.
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